During late December, with unusually low demands on the national grid, breakdowns continued at levels above those seen in the early part of the month, in the lead-up to record levels of electricity rationing, including the previously unheard-of stage 6 on December 9.

Since December 13, breakdowns have consistently been above 11,600MW, which was the level at which Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding.

And worse still, since December 4 the utility's grid updates show that it has not seen one day with breakdowns below 9,500 MW – which is its own benchmark to avoid load shedding entirely.

That suggests that when South Africans return to work next week and major mining companies and factories resume operations, load shedding will likely resume.